How to choose a microphone for voice over

Choosing a microphone for your voice over studio can be challenging. It is usually a tug of war between what you think you need and your wallet. The best solution is usually found in the experimentation. It isn’t something you should take lightly and do too quickly. Try and get as much money as you can ready for the acquisition. You want to buy the best microphone you can afford, but you also want to make sure it is a microphone that compliments your voice.

Things to consider before you make the final decision:

The room or booth needs to be treated. Using a great microphone in a crappy environment will set you up for disappointment because a better microphone will highlight all the acoustic flaws of the environment it is in.

Spend money on proper sound treatment. If you have tons of material already available to use as sound treatment, great, use it. But if you think you are going to buy cheap foam and other materials like mattresses and blankets and get the same result as proper acoustic treatment material, you will find that you will need so much of the cheap stuff, that the cost will work out the same if not more expensive than just forking out the money for proper acoustic treatment material.

You will need a proper digital interface and microphone pre amplifier. Good microphones need extra power. Make sure the expert at the source you buy from give you the information you need to make sure you have what you need to make the microphone work at its best!

Now go and test as many microphones as you can at expert audio dealers.

As many as you can!

Need a good recommendation for a microphone you must try? Neumann TLM-103… It is a U87 without the settings a voice over artist won’t need. It is expensive, but it is magic for most voices.

Last but not least, ask your friends in the industry. Sound Engineers and other artists in the industry are valuable sources of information. Often enough you will even find folks willing to lend you a microphone or two to test on your system at your home studio.